


Beware The Beast But Enjoy The Feast He Offers

by Theyna_Shipper



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Genre: Confused? Me too, Dark Rey (Star Wars), Dark Reylo, Dark Side Rey, Empress Rey, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Lovers To Enemies, Rey (Star Wars) is Nobody, Supreme Leaders Rey and Kylo Ren, Their dynamic bounces around, post-TFA
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:00:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23252095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theyna_Shipper/pseuds/Theyna_Shipper
Summary: We've all wondered what would have happened if Rey had taken Kylo Ren's hand in Snoke's throne room. But what about reaching back even farther?"You need a teacher! I can show you the ways of the Force!""Then show me."What if Rey had made a very different decision on Starkiller?
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 30
Kudos: 94





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first foray into Dark Reylo- and first time writing truly Dark Rey- so I'm not quite sure how this will go. Definitely not sure how the updates will go. Right now I have a very serious case of starting-then-abandoning WIPs, and also a very serious case of quarantine boredom. But here goes!
> 
> Title taken from Nightwish's "Beauty of the Beast".

Sweat ran in rivulets down Rey's neck, her muscles throbbed but did not tire. She spun her saber, blindfolded, deflecting the bolts of the training droid, every single one bouncing off flawlessly.

She was far too good for this.

She threw her saber like a boomerang, cutting the droid in half, before calling the saber back to her hand. The discarded halves of the droid fell with a _clunk_ to the ground. She pulled the black blindfold off her face and used the fabric to wipe her forehead and neck.

"Not bad," Kylo said, leaning against the doorframe.

"You're difficult to please," Rey replied, planting a fist on her hip.

"On the contrary. I'm very pleased with your progress."

"Then why the scorn?"

"That saber of yours. It taints even the best of performances."

She looked down at the Skywalker saber, still in her hand. Without one of her own, it had been all she'd had to train with, though she could feel every atom of it rejecting her touch. She would admit, it makes it difficult.

"What would you rather I use? Weapons of this caliber are-” she twirled the unlit hilt between her fingers- “scarce these days.”

“I think it’s high time you fashioned one of your own.”

Rey’s lips curled into a smile at this. “That would be- far preferable to this.” She appraised the weapon in her hand. “The simple design is rather detrimental to improvisational combat, and quite weak to stressors. Enough equal pull applied to each side would snap it like a twig.”

“And you think your combat would improve with something better? That you could design something better?”

“If I’d had my staff with me on Starkiller, your ribs would still be broken.”

“It’s not polite to boast, Rey.”

“It’s even less polite to lie, Kylo.”

He saw that Rey had come a long way from the nervous and skeptical girl of two months ago. Confidence, pride, and skill had taken the place of these weaknesses. He did not regret his decision to take her as his pupil. 

“But where would I get the kyber to build a new saber?” she continued. “With the war on?”

“The saber you have now has kyber.”

“But it’s all ready been fashioned.”

“It can be taken apart,” he said coolly. “Redesigned. It will refashion itself to your weapon.”

“Interesting,” Rey murmured, stroking the metal casing. 

“I can think of no more bitter blow to the Skywalker legacy,” he continued. “Then for their family blade to be refashioned into the image of the Dark Side’s latest protegée.”

“Let the past die,” Rey recited. “Kill it if you have to.”

“I’ve taught you well,” he said with a chuckle. 

“You can hardly take all the credit for my improvement.”

“You have an abundance of natural talent,” he agreed, “I never regret taking you as my student.”

Rey laughed. “You didn’t take me as your student. You offered yourself as my teacher. _You_ asked, _I_ answered. Not the other way around.” She leaned in towards him. “I’m one of your knights, Ren. Not your apprentice. I serve no master except myself.” 

“Your defiance will be either your salvation or your destruction, Rey of Jakku.”

_Rey of Jakku._ It’s not a title, not a family name. Just her. A belonging, but to herself, not to any person or religion. It’s exactly as she would like it. 

“Only time will tell.” She examines the bandage at his waist, poking through his shirt. “How is your wound?”

“Improving,” he said through gritted teeth. “It took time, and almost certainly scar. But scars are good. They serve as reminders.”

“And what will this remind you of?”

He thought of Chewbacca, his father’s best friend, the creature he’d called “Uncle” as a child. “That their ‘love’ vanishes as soon as you stand in the way of what you want.”

Rey shook her head. “Poor boy you were, raised on sentimental lies. I was raised on ragged, ugly truth. There is strength in damage.”

“We’re experts in damage, aren’t we?”

“I fix broken things,” Rey said. “Make them better.”

“Are you better now?”

“Much,” she returned. “Are you?”

He didn’t like the way her dark eyes bore straight into his soul. Pushing aside his lies like curtains to the weak scar tissue underneath. Not tearing it down the way Snoke’s did. Never against his will. But pushing through, nonetheless. 

“You saw Snoke,” she said, sensing what is on his mind. He nodded. “What did he say to disturb you?” 

“He demands I bring you to him.”

Rey cocked her head. “You know I’m not going to him.”

“I don’t see how you’ll avoid it.”

“I came to you to teach me the ways of the Force. I did not come to Snoke or the First Order. I serve no master.”

“You can continue to defy the Supreme Leader as long as you like,” Kylo said, “But someone- whether or not it is you- will have to suffer the consequences of his rage.”

Rey laughed at him. “What is this, Ren? Some boyish attempt to engender my pathos?”

“I doubt you care,” he said nonchalantly, “But I doubt you’d be eager to lose my guidance.”

“Does your Supreme Leader-” _Your_ Supreme Leader, not _The_ Supreme Leader- “Does he really hurt you?”

“When he so chooses,” Kylo says darkly. 

She brushed her fingertips against his forehead. “May I see?”

He grabbed her wrist, pressing her palm against his head. They closed their eyes in unison, showing her his conversation with the Supreme Leader. 

_“Your partiality to the girl clouds your judgement, apprentice,” Snoke growled. Kylo Ren breathes heavily against the stone floor upon which he lies prone. He pulled himself to his knees._

_“My partialty to her is only my pleasure at her success with the Dark Side.”_

_“Then can she not be brought before me? Perhaps the remaining- flukes- can be worked out that way.”_

_“That will not be necessary,” he assured. “She is far more clear-headed than I was then.”_

_“You are still not clear headed, Ren,” Snoke said, casting him against the floor. The younger man felt a new bruise forming on his ribs. “I want proof of your loyalty. Show me your pupil. If she is not ready, then dispose of her.”_

Rey gasped as she resurfaced from the memory, dropping her hand from his face. “You say this is not an attempt to abuse my pity, yet show me your service to me?”

“I show you only the truth.”

“Your partiality _is_ evident, Kylo Ren,” Rey teased, running a finger along the dark features of his face. “And the Supreme Leader is using you.”

“Excuse me?”

“He’s not waiting for you to show me to him. We’ve all ready met.”

“Impossible.” 

“Is it really so impossible, Kylo?” Rey asked. “You don’t know everything I do.”

“You’ve let me inside your head Rey,” he replied. “You’re proud and pushy, won’t take no for an answer. The Supreme Leader would not have let that remain in his presence.”

“What if I didn’t let him inside my head?” She smiles at his shocked face. “You wouldn’t believe the things he told me. He finds my presence _very_ advantageous”

“What about your circumstances is intriguing to him?”

“My parentage. My history.”

“You said you had none.”

“I thought that was true.” She inhaled sharply “What if I told you I saw something different?” Rey murmured. “A dream. A dark throne, our birthright. You and me, rulers on this throne. No Snoke. Only us and our power. The ghosts of our ancestors clamoring in approval by our sides.”

“I’d say…” the retort fell from his tongue. Freedom from the Supreme Leader, who haunted his life and his sleep from childhood? The Dark Side garnered both pleasure and pain, but Snoke was only the pain. “I’d ask you to show me.”

“Maybe another time,” Rey purred. She leaned close to him, her lips barely a centimeter from his. “You’ve taught me well,” she whispered, close enough for him to feel her breath against his lips. 

Coming to the Dark Side had changed the girl from Jakku, freed her. Rey walked off, reveling in her freedom, reveling in Kylo Ren’s fascination, reveling in her vision of belonging to the Dark, of the Dark belonging to her.


	2. Chapter 2

Rey trained against Kylo, of course. But when they sparred, it was more than just that. There was a keen desire to prove something to each other, and to themselves. It wasn’t truly violent, nor was it bloodless. And the verbal jabs they sent at each other as their weapons crossed only added to the fraught nature of the occupation. 

Yet these exercises were not without their admiration or elegance. It was a bloody dance appreciated only by themselves. Because the only sane way for anyone else to look upon them was with fear.

Rey swung her leg in a fan kick that missed his face by an inch. Her cape cracked like a whip as she twisted her body to absorb the momentum. Kylo took her moment of vulnerability as an opportunity to pull her off her feet, but he was only quick enough to catch her forearm. 

There was no one thing in particular that made the question spring into his mind at that moment, except perhaps Rey’s renewed demonstration of her growing power. Almost envy at her confidence. 

“How did you forget so quickly?”

She twisted her wrist in a move that almost snapped both their wrists. Still, he’s forced to let her go. “What’s that?”

“You spent what, fifteen years waiting for someone who never came back? Only left when you were chased back. And for days after you left, you couldn’t help but think of returning, of waiting again. But now it scarcely crosses your mind.” He deflected her saber strike. “What changed?”

“The smallest taste of freedom gives you an appetite for more. Makes you forget the attachments that you held back.” She pressed him back. “Do you envy my freedom, Kylo?”

He snorted, lunging forward. “You’re a pretty piece of work.”

He grabbed her arm, but instead of twisting away, she twisted in towards him, so that her back was pressed against his chest, like partners in a dance. She tipped her smiling face up towards him. “Do you think I’m pretty?”

It was scary, the way she could go from near-childlike eagerness to a patron of darkness, so quickly. Almost insane. 

She drove the heel of her boot into his shin, shooting pain into his hip. She threw him to the ground with her body weight, then rolled herself over. 

He was pinned now, one of her feet planted on his chest, her knee on the floor, her forearm propped on a bent leg. He tried to gauge his position for escape, but she dug her foot in harder. 

“We can play tug-of-war like this all day,” she whispered, leaning in close. “And achieve nothing. Maybe you could kill me. Maybe I could kill you. But so long as we aren’t even trying- there’s no purpose in trying to prove anything.”

“You think we are equals?”

“Two sides of the same coin.” she affirmed.

“So you think I have nothing left to teach you.”

“Oh, I have lots still to learn from you.”

“Then what would you call our relationship? As equals?”

She lifted her foot up off his chest, helped him to his feet. “A symbiosis. Giving, taking, sharing.”

“And what is your contribution to this- symbiosis?”

She ran a finger along his brow. “You know what I want us to share.” An image flashed in his mind, an iron throne, two hooded figures sharing it. The image disappeared as soon as it had appeared. “What do you want?” she whispered

“Show me that again,” he growled

“I don’t trust you to keep my secrets.”

“Trust is important in a relationship.”

“Then give me a reason to trust you in our- _relationship_.” She always talked close to his face, crowding his personal space, distracting him. He saw the strategy. But this time she closed the gap, brushing a set of crimson lips against his own. It lasted only a moment before she withdrew. “We’d be so powerful together.”

“Powerful enough to kill Snoke? Let’s not become presumptuous

“Do you want to rule by my side?”

“Are you trying to use _seduction_ on me, Rey? Surely that’s as weak as the ‘engendering pathos’ you accused me of.”

“No, this part is just for fun. I could lure you to this plan with power if I waited long enough.”

“Yet fear plays no component. I thought the strength of the Dark side was built on fear.”

“I think loyalty makes for far more reliable agents. You fear Snoke. It only makes you less loyal.”

“And you think this-” he returns the vision of their throne that she had sent into his mind “Garners my loyalty?”

“If you believe in visions.” She twisted her hand into his hair. “I do.” She kissed his cheek tauntingly again and slipped quietly away, leaving him to process her confusing mindset once again.

**********

“You need a teacher! I can show you the ways of the Force!” 

The saber slackened in Rey’s hand. A teacher. Someone who would help her, rather than throwing her to face the wolves alone. The offer was more than tempting. 

“Then show me.”

He extended his gloved hand. “Will you come with me?”

Rey had sold her labor, her treasure, and so much more for food or supplies before. Everything, as she saw it, was an exchange in its own way. The world was cyclical and balanced like that. 

Would she sell her soul for a new life? 

She had nothing left to lose. 

She crossed the snowy woods, grabbed his hand. He looked momentarily surprised that she had taken so little convincing. “I’m just a scavenger,” she warned him, waiting for him to rescind the offer. 

Her fingers brushed his bare wrist, and for a moment, they saw into each other’s mind as they had during the interrogation. He saw a vision of the Force in hers, a craving for understanding. She saw a need for balance, for someone to make him less alone in his powerful rage. 

They understood each other in that moment, and without a word, only a look passing between their eyes, forged a powerful bond in the Force.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you are enjoying it. I'm definitely enjoying writing it, and it gives me something to do in quarantine :D

“You really have nothing better to do?”

“I really don’t,” Rey confirmed, adjusting her lean against the wall. “This is relaxing. Patterned.”

The calligraphy Kylo was practicing was only simple characters, to relax his mind and body. He continued in silence, Rey watching. A door opened behind them, and Rey bared her teeth and hissed, catlike. Kylo stifled a laugh behind his hand. He stood up. “Hux.”

“Ah, forgive me for interrupting. I did not realize Ren had his-” Hux turned to Rey- “Guard dog with him.”

_“Guard dog?”_ Rey growled through her teeth, making the comparison slightly more warranted. 

“ _With all due respect,_ you seem to serve no purpose here except to intimidate those he doesn’t like, and perhaps decoration.”

“I don’t need to serve a purpose _here_ , I’m not-”

“Hux,” Kylo interrupted, “Perhaps you’d like to discuss this elsewhere?”

“If you can’t control your pet, perhaps we should.”

“I couldn’t control her if I wanted to,” Kylo said coldly. 

“Is that a threat?”

Rey used the Force to throw him into a wall. “Yeah,” she said. “It is.”

Hux had dealt with Kylo Ren’s outbursts before. The safest thing to do was to let them pass, blow over. Rarely did he give in, except when the other man was in a particularly dangerous rage. 

Rey’s anger was harder to measure, more volatile, with less predictable motives. So he waited, against the wall, hoping she would get bored of him. 

But Rey didn’t get bored, didn’t give up on a piece of prey when she had it in her claws. “I’m not his _guard dog_ ,” she hissed. “I’m nobody’s pet.” She reached through the Force, imagining slender tentacles unfurling from her fingers, until she felt the General’s windpipe pulse underneath it. “And I don’t take orders from you.” She tightened her grip on his neck, heard him cough weakly. 

*********

_“Have you ever killed, Rey?”_

_Rey contemplated the question. Life and death were very fluid things._

_“And I don’t just mean given the order, or pushed the first domino. Or even caused an accident.”_

_He circled her, crossing the path of her blaster for a moment before letting the target reappear in front of her._

_“Have you ever watched the fire die from another person’s eyes because of a trigger you pulled, a blow you struck? Let their blood darken your boots?”_

_“Should I?”_

_He laughed. “That’s what I’d like to find out.” He put a hand on the barrel of the blaster, lowered it so their eye-to-eye vision was unblocked. “You fired on me in the forest. What was your intent then?”_

_“Does it matter? My bullet never landed.”_

_“And you knew that, didn’t you? That your bullet would never reach me. You didn’t have it in you to kill another man, no matter how evil you thought them. Your feeble attempt at ‘self-defense’ was little more than a gesture of unwillingness.” He bit his lip, studied her face. “Who do you fantasize about killing. In your dreams, who is on the other end of that blaster.”_

_Rey thought about the question. She contemplated the anger in her chest, the anger she’d once been told to set aside; she found much more peace letting it speak its mind. “My parents.”_

_“Good,” he purred, circling back behind her. “They sold you. Abandoned you. They deserve your rage.”_

_“Plutt.”_

_“A little basic. A little predictable. But yes, I suppose having him there would be cathartic for you.”_

_“But do you think you could actually pull the trigger if you looked into their eyes?” He insisted. “It’s easy to see someone’s humanity in their final moments.”_

_“This, from the boy who looked his father in the eye while cutting him down.”_

_“A struggle from the depths of my soul,” he admitted. “But it made me stronger. Now, think of one of those people. And pull the trigger.” He wrapped his hand around hers, raised the gun to point at the target, releasing it to let her aim by herself._

_Rey’s hands shook. She imagined Unkar Plutt, the man who’d worked and starved and short-changed her for years. Paying for his sins under her hand._

_She pulled the trigger. The target flew to pieces._

_He smiled at her. “Your aim is getting better._

*******

“Rey,” Kylo whispered warningly as Hux struggled for air. 

She relaxed her grip and let him fall to the ground. “I’ll leave you boys to it, then.” 

Hux dragged himself to his feet, fire in his eyes. 

“No, stay,” Kylo said. He was enjoying his General’s discomfort far too much to let Rey go. “I’m sure you’ll find this interesting.”

“If you insist.” She assumed a perch on the desk. 

“What is it, Hux?” Kylo asked. “It must be important for you to barge into my office unannounced and inconvenience both of us like this.” 

“It is,” Hux replied, slamming a sheaf of papers on the desk next to Rey. “There have been more Stormtrooper defections.” 

Kylo cursed. “That’s the third time this month. It’s spreading like a disease.”

“The traitor, FN-2187, planted the first seeds of doubt.”

The mention of Finn made Rey wince internally. Of all the people she’d left, he was the only one she had ever felt guilty about, the only thing that made her resolve flag. 

“Their growth is becoming harder to control,” he finished. 

“Do you even need the Troopers anymore?” Rey interrupted. The two men turned to her. 

_I’ve told you not to interrupt these things,_ Kylo scolded in their heads. 

_You invited me,_ she retorted

“The Resistance is holed up on- wherever they are- licking their wounds. Is there really a need for a force of expendable infantry anymore? It seems to me those resources would be better spent on aircraft and perhaps highly trained personnel.”

“But released Troopers will defect to the Resistance,” Hux insisted. 

“Some, yes. That’s unavoidable. But some would stay, and be more reliable and predictable soldiers. And you would retain even more if you offered them higher-level positions.”

“Since when did you become a military strategist?” Kylo asked. 

“I pay attention.”

“And this is no indication of remaining Resistance sympathies, Ren?”

“You cannot deny any of her claims, General. We can arrange a discussion of this tomorrow.”

“Very good.” The General gathered his papers and left. 

As soon as the door closed, Kylo turned to Rey. “You ‘pay attention’? You’re as distracted as a hummingbird.”

“I listen when I want to. I want to learn how to win, win anything. So I pay attention to that.” She looked up at him from her perch on the desk. “It’s working, isn’t it?”

“We’ll see.” He offered her a hand, and she jumped down. 

“By the way, I won’t be joining your discussion tomorrow,” she smirked. 

“There’s your distraction again.”

“I _am_ a distraction, Ren.”

She exited with a flourish, making sure he watched her every step until she rounded the corridor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and feedback greatly appreciated! Are there any characters you'd like to see/see more of?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kind comments, it really keeps me going, especially in these difficult times. Please enjoy!

_Resistance Base, Immediately After The Destruction of Starkiller_

Finn walked dully through the crowds, still reeling at what he’d witnessed. 

“Finn?” He turned to see Leia, striding towards him. “Chewie?” She looked to the Falcon. “Where’s Han?”

Finn let Chewie explain, feeling a stranger to the grief they were experiencing. After a few minutes of letting silent tears fall, Leia realized someone else was missing. 

“And what happened to Rey?”

Chewie looked at Finn. This was his story to tell, Finn realized. But how to tell such a story? Destroy their morale like this? It seems kinder to let them live in ignorance. 

“She didn’t make it.” 

Chewie glanced at him skeptically, but said nothing. 

“Ren overwhelmed us as we left. We did everything we could, but lost Rey.” 

Leia nodded sadly. The girl had been with them only a few days, but she’d contained so much hope within her. Rey had been so battered by the world, yet still had so much eagerness to see it. And that young life had been cut short by war, like so many other hopeful young lives had. 

“She’ll be buried with the other soldiers,” Leia announced. 

Finn watched as she was interred with no eulogy, no flowers, an empty grave, as Rey Nobody from Nowhere. Her memory burned on a pyre with the bodies they could recover. A faceless name among so many. 

And it seemed wrong to lie, to let them believe she’d died a brave death on Starkiller. They deserve to know the truth, that the girl they’d admired and seen hope in had fallen to the Dark side. 

But to tell them that the Force was unwinding and unbalancing and the spread of darkness could not be stopped? To further crush the morale of their troops, battered and hiding and awaiting the deathblow in their weak shelter? Far, far too cruel. 

He placed a single red rose on the pyre, for the innocent and hopeful girl who had died on Starkiller. He watched as its scent and silhouette were reborn in the flames, becoming something sadder, deadlier, and darker. 

**********

Rey climbed to the top of the rock shelf, drinking in the scent of the cold, clean air, her frozen lungs waking her tired body. 

She could feel her every nerve tingle, was aware of her every muscle and bone and vein. It was the first time she had been outside in months, the first time they had stopped long enough and safely enough for her to breathe the fresh air. 

She was fairly certain she had reached a higher plain of understanding in the cold and mountainous terrain. It was something she’d never experienced before. Jakku had been hot and dry. Takodana had been warm and damp. But the coolness and dryness seemed to flush out her lungs, her pores, and her eyes. 

She was fresh, pure, and entirely by herself. 

Meditation was a Jedi practice, designed to concentrate the emotions and prevent overwhelming passion. It helped the Jedi to focus, to connect with the Force, and to reach a new understanding of themselves. 

But at times like these- times of energy and awareness- Rey meditated nonetheless. Not like the Jedi did, turning outward to let the Force into them. She turned her thoughts inward, letting the stirring passions in her breast rise to the service and come to life. 

Kylo discouraged it. _You want to be able to tap into your passions for power, master them in the heat of the moment. That is what gives you your strength. Meditating upon them will weaken their power._

But the anger never went away. Fear was always a guest The loneliness was a stirring sea that could never be predicted. 

And that odd, childlike spark of hope and wonder that kept away despair. 

Sith, Jedi, or neither, despair was never welcome. Despair crushed hope. Despair crushed ambition. Despair crushed faith. All the things that give you the motivation to continue. 

Being acquainted with her anger, fear, ambition, and hope made her more confident in her ability to master them. No beast could be captured or tamed without a knowledge of its hunt. 

She exhaled sharply as she felt another presence cresting her field of observation. She recognizes Kylo Ren’s Force signature

_Get out of my head._

_Where are you?_

_Alone. As I’d like to stay._ Rey tried to clear her head, but he persistently remained. 

_You aren’t thinking of running away, are you?_

_You don’t trust me?_

_Trust is built on trust,_ he returned snidely. 

_And what would you if I did try to run away?_ Rey challenged. 

_I assure you I have no intention of letting you get away from me._

Rey’s spine prickled. _You don’t control me._

“That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t hold you here until you lost all rebellion.” He is standing behind her now. She hadn’t even felt his physical presence approaching until he was practically breathing down her neck. 

“Is that a compliment or a threat?”

“It can be both.” He pulled her to her feet, then closer to his face. “Two can play this game.”

“But all the thrill is in the chase.” 

He smiled and dropped her hand. She flicked her hair over her shoulder. “How did you find me?”

“You weren’t exactly hiding.”

“Were you looking for me?”

“I think we had the same destination in mind.” He looked to the horizon. “Away.”

“Do we ever really get away?”

He laughed mirthlessly. “No. We’re always inside our minds and bodies.” He turned back to her. “Why do you bury yourself even deeper? Meditation? That doesn’t seem like a healthy practice.”

“There’s a fine line between self-awareness and self-entrapment. If you’d care to walk it.”

“I’m trapped enough as it is. Why risk it?” He hissed

This was the only way in which he spoke of his weaknesses, in snide and sarcastic hints. But Rey saw straight through them, to the damage underneath the skin. 

“I know you are. You have been since you were a child.” She helped him down from the rock. “Let me set you free.”

He ignored her for several minutes as they walked aimlessly along the path. 

When he finally broke the silence, his voice was firm again. “We should go to base. It’s starting to rain.” 

The rain had come as a complete surprise as they’d descended. The cool, misty drops tickling Rey’s skin were almost enchanting and completely alien. 

“This is your first time in the rain, isn’t it?” 

“Yeah,” Rey said breathlessly, pulling down her hood. 

“It will feel wonderful for about five minutes, and then you’ll be cold and miserable.”

It _did_ feel wonderful. And quite frankly, damn the consequences in the moment, she was finally happy and relaxed. 

“I’ll take the misery,” Rey decided.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dark side can be soft and if you don't think so you're just wrong. Please enjoy.

Rey wrung her soaked hair out over the sink. The rain had increased its ferocity much quicker than she’d expected, leading to her returning to the station soaked. Kylo, having brought a waterproof cloak, was slightly better off. 

“You know, I _did_ w-”

“Don’t you dare,” Rey cut him off. “ _Don’t_ say “I-told-you-so’.”

“I-”

“Not _one_ word,” she growled. 

He hid his laughter behind his hand, but Rey saw it nonetheless. He was hit in the face by a soaked towel, and it stung. 

“I didn’t say anything,” he protested. 

“Kriff off.”

“That’s not very nice,” he sighed, rolling up the towel. 

“Neither are you.” She tightened her robe. “Can I have my towel back?”

“Not until you apologize.” He held it out of reach, easy due to their height discrepancy. 

“Over my dead body.” She reached up, but failed to grab it. She closed her eyes and sighed. “Please.”

He did not relent. “You look like a dog who’s just gone for his first swim and found he doesn’t have a taste for it,” he teased. 

“Dogs bite,” Rey warned, jumping for the towel and missing. 

Kylo stepped back. “Maybe this will teach you not to throw things at people?”

“On the contrary, it’s taught me that certain people deserve to have things thrown at them.” She stepped forward. “Give it _back_.”

“Still holding it hostage for my apology.”

Rey rolled her eyes, and turned to a droid in the corner. “Bring me another towel.” The droid trundled off to obey the command. She looked smugly at Kylo. 

He sighed with defeat, and threw the towel to a hamper. “Next time, I won’t let you off so easily.”

“I’m sure.” Rey continued to dry her hair. “You can stop laughing at me, by the way, the rain kicked up faster than anyone could have predicted.”

“This could have been prevented if we’d just come in when the rain _started_. As it is, it was rather _preventably_ unpleasant for us.”

“You didn’t have to stay out there.”

“I had to make sure you didn’t drown. Or catch hypothermia.”

“Kriff off.”

“ _Language,_ Rey,” he chided. “You’ll be a professional soon. Act like it.”

Rey crossed her arms, a retort on the tip of her tongue, but they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Ren?” a voice called. “Someone wishes to speak with you.” 

He shot Rey a glare, and turned to the door. “I’ll be there momentarily.”

Rey glared back, and returned to drying her hair. 

************

Rey heard a knock on her chamber door that evening. “Come in,” she sighed. Only one person knew where she lodged. 

Kylo pushed open the door. “Good evening.”

Rey didn’t look up from her book. “How are your knights?”

He winced. He does not like his charges, his knights; it is not a position he chose. 

_“They were a... gift from the Supreme Leader.” His voice lingered on the epithet. “He saw me as a way to control their wanton destruction.”_

_“Could he not have just eliminated them?”_

_Kylo shook his head. “New ones would have resumed their roles, to follow the same order.”_

_“But you took their name.”_

_“An opportunity to renounce my old one, and to declare my power.”_

_“A power you do not want.”_

_“I did not say I did not want them.”_

_“But you’re lying.” He was not a very good liar. Or maybe he was. But she was not fooled._

_“That’s not important.”_

_“I thought we chose the darkness, you and I, because it could make us happier,” she moved closer. “What’s the point if you are not happy.”_

_He was more than a little annoyed, by this girl, this untrained weakling who pierced right through his eyes to his thoughts. He might do the same to her, but like the creatures of the desserts he is home to, her thoughts burrowed themselves deep. His, Snoke mocked him, danced at the surface._

_“This is why I have kept myself unaffiliated,” Rey said._

_“The world is at war. Sooner or later, you will choose a side. **My** side,” Kylo hissed. _

_“We’ll see.”_

_Kylo looked down at Rey. “They are fine.”_

_“What a shame,” Rey remarked._

“Rey." 

“I doubt you came here to talk to me about your knights.”

“That would be correct.” A small black cat with blue eyes leapt onto Rey’s desk. He reached out to stroke its head. “I had forgotten about your pet,” he remarked. 

“I hadn’t realized you knew her to begin with.”

“Every new life form that enters the ship must be approved.” The cat nipped his glove. “I see you’re studying the Sith characters.”

“I need to learn the language to study the texts,” she explained. “So I can learn how to properly manipulate the kyber.” She leafed through the pages. “But it’s not all theory. And I’m worried I don’t have the raw materials.”

“There is a planet where Jedi and Sith- and others- can complete their sabers,” he suggested. “Perhaps you should complete your study there.”

“Can the fleet make a detour?”

“At my orders, they will.”

“You are pushing their patience.”

“So long as you remain unaffiliated, that is none of your business.”

“You’re forcing me to consider affiliating myself,” Rey remarked. “Where is this planet?”

“I’ll take you there. But the construction of a saber is a quest you undertake by yourself.”

She nodded. Alone. She understood the importance of power without another’s aid. That constructing her own saber would make her completely independent, no teacher. But being… alone. The idea of _missing_ this place seemed unlikely, but Kylo treated her- kindly- if occasionally disparaging of her impertinence. 

Rey pursed her lips. If she was going to be alone, she should speak to him. “Be careful around Snoke,” she warned. “Your defiance is becoming more and more evidence to him. Upset him much more and he will be a danger to both of us.”

“And you don’t think I can take care of myself?”

“When I return, we will take care of him,” Rey promised. “I can’t tell you anymore.”

“Keeping me safe?” 

She stood close, looked him in the eye. “I’d rather you not die.”

She expected a snide retort, but did not receive one, only a nod of understanding. 

“Good night, Kylo,” Rey said, putting away her book. 

“Good night.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the supportive comments, it's what keeps me writing! Next update coming soon. Stay healthy, y'all!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before someone roasts me in the comments, let me take full responsibility for the fact that I know nothing about lightsabers and very little about Star Wars lore in general. So if anything I said is innacurate, I apologize, but it's my fanfiction and doesn't have to correspond perfectly to canon. I saw a fanart of Dark Rey with an awesome saber and made it work in a Rey that sounded cool. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Thanks for reading!

“Impressive,” Kylo murmured, running his finger down the shaft of the lightsaber. “A completely unique design, but with elements of traditional ones. How does it work?”

Rey took the saber and ignited both red ends. The handle was longer, like a quarterstaff though not _quite_ that long, and a blade discharged from either end. It felt much more comfortable in her grip than the short and blunt saber she was working with before. 

“The kyber was difficult to rework without damaging,” Rey explained. “Much like the cracked crystal in yours. So there are two blades, modeled off an older design of Sith sabers. But to prevent the energy from running off before it reaches the end- due to the length of the hilt- I had to find a narrow filament to discharge it through. Blown glass was the only thing that would work.” She pulled out a notebook and showed him a diagram of the saber. 

“I don’t believe that’s a technique that’s been used before,” he remarked. He studied the notebook. “I’m impressed.”

Rey nodded in acknowledgement. Of course a standard design of saber wasn’t going to work with her fighting style- one that Kylo had described as ‘feral’, ‘non-defensive’, and ‘highly improvisational’. Few of the strategies she used would be ones taught to a Jedi or Sith pupil, being designed for a completely different weapon. The new blade made from the old kyber suited her far better. 

“And have you considered the other matter?” he continued. 

“The offer of an officership in the First Order.”

Kylo nodded. “You have proved yourself to have useful advice on multiple occasions. My men and women want you on our side.”

Rey smirked. That Hux was forced to admit she was a good strategist- _that_ was honey-sweet victory. “But that means I would have to take orders.”

“That’s right.”

Rey shook her head. “I’ve had enough of working for other people.” She took her notebook back from Kylo. “Let’s kill Snoke.”

He steadied his gaze. “I’m sorry?”

“He’ll milk this war for as long as he can, because it gives him power. I _see_ how he controls you, he tried to do the same to me. Let’s be free of him. Together.”

“He’s strong, Rey.”

“He’s an old man who manipulates others into doing his dirty work. He can’t be that strong if no one ever sees him.”

Kylo paused, considering Rey’s proposal. “You said you have spoken with him before?”

“Yes, I have.” She did not elaborate. 

“And?”

“What do you think? He tried to manipulate me into his service. Offered me protection, information…” her voice trailed off distractingly, as if thinking of what Snoke had offered her. “He sits on a throne nurtured by generations of darkness. It’s ours. Let us claim it.”

Rey did not know the fear he’d lived in, fear of that monster, for years. The idea of freedom was tempting, yet a part of him still resists the idea of insubordination. 

Rey grabbed both his hands and stood close to him. “The rebellious spirit is too strong in both of us, Kylo. Indulge it.”

It sounded freeing. Beautiful. _Indulge it._

Rey leaned in for a kiss, but this time a real one, not a teasing or taunting one. They let it linger, let it fill the air between them. 

Rey pulled away slowly. “He asked you to bring me to him, correct?”

Kylo nodded. An excited smile crept across Rey’s lips. 

“That’s the last order you will ever obey from him.”

***************

Either Rey’s stunning confidence was covering something, or it sprung from something he did not know about. 

Because when she first plowed ahead with unwavering faith in her success, he thought she was trying to project her confidence inwards; mask her actual fear. But that seemed unlike Rey. He sensed no fear from her, not now. So surely there is something she saw or knew that convinced her of victory more so than he could be. 

Still, her attitude lent him his own air of confidence as they walked, hand-in-hand, to Snoke’s throne room. 

“We start anew. Together,” Rey assured them. 

The Knights of Ren trailed the pair, unwitting pawns in this fight, their sacrifice a necessity of this future. 

“My apprentice,” Snoke growled as Kylo entered the room. “And his own student.”

“My Lord.” He bowed, fear returning from the sudden proximity of the beast. He felt a wave of uncertainty come off Rey, stumbling only for a moment. 

She did not bow. “Supreme Leader.”

He glared at her pride and presumption to look him in the eye. “You are strong,” he noted. “Perhaps even stronger than my current charge.”

“Our power is as one,” Rey replied. 

Snoke smirked knowingly. “You claim some connection?”

“Do you know of one?”

“The Force exists in a dangerous balance between you two, one that even I do not understand.”

Kylo let their voices surround him, but not penetrate his focus. He had his own part to play in this, on that Rey covered and allowed him to. 

Because neither of them noticed the weapons in the Praetorian guard’s hands falter, stumble back. But Rey knew it was happening, trusting the job to Kylo as he trusted her. 

And when he returned his focus to the room around him, Rey’s saber was drawn, the upper blade ignited. “You showed me my past and birthright. Now give it to me.” 

Together they were more powerful than Snoke. Alone, they would have been useless, succumbed to his manipulations. But having another human anchor in the room with whom you shared every anxious thought, saw every movement- they were a deadly machine. 

And together they rushed into a blurry duel, trusting only in each other’s strength, letting the world around them fade as they put their every drop of energy into the target before them, who put up a roaring dying fight. 

The Knights of Ren came to the aid of their master, eliminating the Praetorian guard in the background, but eliminating themselves in the process. 

Rey and Kylo struggled and bled, fought and were fought, fell and got back up. And just as Kylo drove his saber in for a killing blow, Rey was knocked backwards and collapsed dully against the floor. 

The room was now nothing but unmoving bodies, Ren standing amongst them. For a moment, he felt no response from Rey, and a strange feeling washed over him. 

_You have no one left. You could choose any path now._ It was a new and terrifying thought. 

And then Rey’s chest rose and fell in a low gasp. She hauled herself to her feet, and relief flooded him. She had promised him _together_. 

They met in a regal embrace in the center of the room, _indulging_ themselves. The Jedi forbade attachments. Those of the Dark Side feared compassion, love for those who weaken you. But _this_ was a union of power, strength, energy; one as equals. 

But when Rey began to take in the room, she turned confused and angry. “This isn’t what I saw,” she murmured angrily. “There’s something more.” She ignited her saber and drove it angrily against the ornamentations, braziers and curtains and columns. She attacked the throne, cutting it in half and then bisecting those halves, over and over again, filling her vision with ash.

She looked up at Kylo. “We’ve been fooled,” she whispered. “ _None_ of this is over.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your comments really keep me going when I'm going through rough times like this, I really appreciate feedback!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back at it with another update! Please enjoy!
> 
> Your comments have been so wonderful, thank you so much. As to the future of this fic, and the comments I received on the last chapter... some of y'all are in for a surprise.

Kylo narrowed his eyes. “What the hell do you mean?”

“I mean Snoke wasn’t the last link. He wasn't even the strongest link. He was just-” she gestured to the pile of ash “-this.”

“Does that matter? We have what we want. We can rule the whole damn galaxy.” He shook his head. “Stop obsessing over fate and visions, Rey. Fate is a lie. We make or break ourselves.”

“Bold words from a man who obsesses over a relic of his family’s past.”

“That’s a legacy, not a destiny. A gift. Mine to accept or throw away.”

“We promised ourselves the galaxy. This isn’t the galaxy. This is one weak old man’s vision of power. There’s a greater power of darkness, stirring, somewhere in the galaxy. I’ve felt it ever since I joined you.”

“The whole Force is unbalancing and remaking itself, Rey. It’s our job to join in that remaking, not to seek out some fanciful vision.”

“You can take this powerless throne if you wish,” Rey growled. “But I’m finding what I came here to find. Claiming my inheritance.” She marched towards the door. 

Kylo grabbed her by the arm. “I once said I wasn’t letting you run away.”

Rey froze, stone-like, under his grip. “Let me go.”

He did not. A silent battle, between their eyes only, erupted suddenly as Rey twisted her body and threw him to the ground. She ignited her lightsaber at the same time as him. 

“Come with me,” she beckoned. “This doesn’t have to be over. We can still be one, in control.”

“You’ve lost control of yourself, chasing dreams. I am not going down that useless path.” He advanced on her. “Nor am I letting you. You are still clearly a student in need of teaching.”

Rey retaliated, flying into battle, sending them sparring back and forth across the ruined room. 

It all happened in a blur, Kylo stumbling, Rey descending, her staff smashing into him and dropping the room into darkness. 

When he wakes up, there is a single slip of paper on the floor, a tracking code written on it, with a message: 

_Come find me._

***********

Blood ran down Rey’s arms and chest, whose, she couldn’t tell anymore. Hers. The Knights’. Snoke’s. The Guards’. Kylo’s. Because everyone is an equal in blood. 

She felt like nothing but ash and blood, in the shape of a human being, burning and stinging and slowly dissolving. 

_And from it,_ she told herself. _I shall be reborn._

She stole a ship and left its tracking number behind. She’d leave coordinates if she had any idea where the hell she was going. But for now, she just followed her gut, following the calling darkness somewhere in her mind and in the galaxy. 

It was unsurprising where this led her, really. To a graveyard of a planet that had never been glorious, ruins the most significant site. 

But the ruins are certainly significant. The greatest relic of the old Empire, the Death Star itself. Now a hollowed out shell of times gone by. 

But Rey knew there was something left in there, something all but forgotten, something waiting for her. She left her cloak and heavy layers and prepared to brave the waters. 

***********

_Rey dipped one toe hesitatingly into the pool. Their most recent planetfall had plenty of still water, and Rey was instant upon seeing it. It was more than she’d ever seen in one place- rich, clear, sparkling, cool._

_“Beautiful, isn’t it?”_

_Rey sighed longingly. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Thank you.”_

_“My pleasure.”_

_She knelt and placed a hand in the water. It was cold- startlingly so- but she left it in._

_“Are you going to get in?” He smiled. “You’ve never been swimming before, have, you?”_

_Rey shook her head. They were both barefoot and prepared to swim, but she was hesitant to try._

_“I won’t let you drown,” he promised. Rey waded in slowly. “Just go all at once,” he advised. “Get it over with.”_

_Rey dove underwater. Instantly, all her airways were frozen; she opened her mouth to gasp for air, but her lungs were flooded with water. She sputtered and flailed, until Kylo pulled up._

_“That,” she gasped once she was done coughing, “Was worse than quicksand. You said you wouldn't let me drown!”_

_“I didn’t. But everyone has to do that at some point.”_

_“I don’t much fancy your teaching.” She took another deep breath, and dove underwater again, this time prepared. After her racing adrenaline slowed, she could appreciate the peace of the water, sunlight filtering gently down. After about half a minute, her lungs began to tighten, and she resurfaced. “Teach me how to swim.”_

_He paused for a moment, deciding how best to go about this. “You mentioned quicksand?” She nodded. “I was taught that if you fall in quicksand, you should try to swim. So maybe- do what you would do in quicksand? But you can let your head go underwater.”_

_It took some adjusting to the new medium, but Rey eventually got a feel for the water. Her muscles ached as she clambered out, cold and dripping, but she had no regrets._

*********

Rey cleared her head of the unbidden memory. If he came, he came. If he didn’t- well, he was just another face among thousands. 

One she would never forget. 

She pulled her hair back, buckled the collar of her leather armor, and dove into the surf. The raging waves were unlike anything she’d ever encountered, colder than the desert at night. Undeterred, she pushed through, every muscle in her body responding to the desperation, dragging herself to the first island of scrap she sees. 

It would be a long swim like this, hopping from island to island, maybe half a kilometer. But fate- or at least the belief in it- is a strong motivator. A long catwalk gave her a path to the heart of the ruins before long. 

She looked to the sky for a sign of another ship. So far, blank. “Come find me,” she murmurs, and marches confidently into the maw of the Death Star.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay safe and healthy, y'all.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter! Thank you so much for the support, it's been fun to write. Stay safe and healthy!

The inside of the ruins was a forest of dark metal, reachin high and blocking the sun. It was old, very old, sometimes falling to pieces under her feet. 

An exciting challenge, to leap catlike along towers and broken staircases and the like, following a sort of pinging radar inside her head. Something was here, of that Rey was sure. But what, she couldn’t begin to imagine. 

The scavenger part of her was processing all the scrap; what was valuable, what was not. It would be a rich target for scavengers; the planet must be close to unoccupied to remain so untouched. She swore she saw a glint of kyber in the corner of her eye- but she didn’t have time for that. 

Rey scaled the remains of a reactor shaft for a better vantage point of the ruins. Rain began to pour in through a hole in the roof. 

Just then, a ship- a TIE- swooped in through the hole in the roof, docked in an ancient landing bay. Rey felt a smile spread across her lips; a new element to excite the challenge having appeared on her horizon. 

Kylo stepped out of his ship, and they made eye contact. Rey gestured over her shoulder, then turned around and dove into the surf below. 

**********

She was always one for a dramatic gesture. 

Kylo noted this as Rey plunged into the water, executing a perfecting swan dive and striking the waves like a knife. She didn’t surface for almost a full minute, then began pulling herself towards a shelf. 

He raced her to it, half making a game of it, seeing a glow of green that must have been her target. His jumps were reckless and long. The air was cold and salty, making him violently aware of sensations that had not been awakened in a long time. Painful, but in a good way. 

He reached the ledge before she did, and grabbed some kind of glowing, black and green pyramid, radiating strong Force Energy. Some kind of Sith Device, although he didn’t recognize. 

Rey pulled herself out of the water. He held out the pyramid. “Looking for this?”

“Give it to me,” she snarled. 

“Come and get it.”

He threw the item high into the air, expecting her to catch it, but it flew as if of its own accord above them. All it took was a look for them to agree where next to disagree: they sprint towards it. 

*********

Rey met him, eye-to-eye across a gap, the Sith device hovering between them. 

“It doesn’t have to be a contest,” she offered. “I saw our fate. We stand together.”

“We have no fate,” Kylo hissed in return. “If you believe we ought to rule together- then do.”

“You know, I could have done all this long ago,” Rey said. “But I waited. Stayed with you. Helped. Because I _cared_ about you. Because you treated me like a person and not a tool. Don’t tell me all that was in vain. I’ve waited too long to answer my fate, my legacy. Don’t make me wait any longer.”

“Legacy?” he growled. “What is your legacy? You come from nothing. You’re nobody. What claim do you have to this throne you’re going to take.”

“That _is_ my legacy. Nothing. The Force has always been in my family. Always ignored by the world, left to rot because we were nobody. What would this do but make us scared and angry? Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to the Dark side. It’s in my blood, to be angry, to follow the scent of blood. Don’t you see?”

“If it’s your legacy, then answer it.” He pushed the device to her. 

She held it delicately. “Some kind of mapping device?” She clipped it to a device on her belt and waited for an input. 

Nothing. No answer; the device was useless, dead. She’d come here all on a wild goose chase, a fake answer to her begging questions. 

“Don’t you see, Rey? It’s all over. _Let the past die._ You keep looking for an answer in your fate, a meaning for yourself in this galaxy. But your life has no meaning. Neither does mine. We do things because we can and want to, not because some _Fate_ says we have to. The Force is a power, not a faith.”

“Then _why?_ Why show me all this?”

“To show you what you could become if you let go. _Let go._ ”

She looked up at him, her eyes searching; desperate. “Burn it with me.”

“With pleasure.”

*****************

She noticed Kylo set something in the ruins- the helmet of Vader, another relic of a past that had to die. Good. 

Rey looked up at an old fuel cell and drew her blaster. The pair synchronized their fire and struck. 

They march out on the ruined catwalk, not looking back. 

Rey burned on that pyre. Who she had been, who she might have been, all the potential people contained within her- all of them burned. There was only who she was _now_. Raw. Unbridled, untethered, free. 

They stared into the sky together, hands intertwined, letting the world burn behind them. 

“I still want a throne,” Rey said. 

Kylo’s lips arched into a dry smile. “As you wish- your majesty. Will you call yourself empress of the galaxy?”

She considered it. “And will you call yourself emperor, if I am empress?”

“I suppose I will have to.”

The Dark side could be raw and cruel. But it didn’t have to be lonely. 

********

Rey’s throne was of iron and obsidian, dark and sleek and strong. A throne big enough for two, her hand and his forever intertwined. 

Rey and Ren, the king and the queen. Ruling over a beaten and burning galaxy, one that they will rebuild in freedom and darkness. The only way they know how to live. 

“Do you have any regrets?”

Yes. Yes, she did. Part of her wished she had _really_ burned upon that pyre. There was an emptiness inside her that came from hollowing herself out in exchange for freedom. There was no truer freedom than to burn. 

But she will burn one day; everyone would. For now, she could tell the galaxy. _I come from nobody. I come from nothing. But I am someone, and I will leave something._

“Do you?”

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback of any kind appreciated!


End file.
